Robust rocker guard with automatic step

ABSTRACT

Rocker guards with automatic step are disclosed that provide robust protection from damage due to rock obstacles to rocker panels and also provide an automatic step to facilitate easy entry and exit from a lifted vehicle. Some embodiments of a rocker guard with automatic step for a vehicle (rocker) can include a body formed to protect rocker panels of a vehicle without damaging the rocker or a step located within the body when the step is in a retracted position, mounts attached to the body for attaching to a vehicle, and an actuator coupled to the step and the body, the actuator being configured to automatically lower the step out of the body to an extended position and retract the step to the retracted position. One embodiment of the invention has a body with an interior volume operable to receive a cartridge with an actuator for moving the automatic step and one or more support legs for extending the automatic step away from the body when the automatic step is coupled to the one or more support legs. This particular embodiment improves the economy of assembly by providing many of the internal workings of the automatic step in a single assembly piece that may be inserted into an end of the body, with minimal additional assembly required, in order to achieve a fully functional and attached step.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to,non-provisional U.S. Pat. No. 8,833,781, filed on Nov. 2, 2010, andincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This application relates generally to vehicle accessories, andparticularly to accessories for sport utility vehicles and otheroff-road vehicles.

BACKGROUND

Off-road driving is growing in popularity. Places with off-road trailssuch as Moab, Utah have become very popular vacation destinations forpeople with off-road vehicles such as Jeeps®, SUVs, rock crawlers,trucks, and other off-road vehicles. Many thousands of off-roadingdestination miles invite those who want to get away from civilization.For example, tens of thousands of vehicles are driven on Moab's manyoff-road trails each year. Off-road destinations like Moab offer avariety of trails with varying difficulties. Some trails cannot benavigated without vehicle modifications to allow for greater grip,clearance, power, braking power, etc.

As such, many vehicles used off-road are modified to achieve greateroff-road performance and to allow the vehicle to conquer and attemptdifficult obstacles and trails. Some trails include rock obstacles thatmay come into contact with various parts of the underside of a vehicle.Running boards and rocker guards are often added to off-road vehicles tolimit damage to rocker panels and other body panels by the rockobstacles. Another common modification is lifting the vehicle and addinglarger wheels and tires to increase grip and clearance. Lifting thevehicle makes entering and exiting more difficult, requiring passengersto climb up into the vehicle with significant effort.

One solution to facilitating easy entry and exit from a lifted vehicleis an automatic step, such as the Powerstep offered by AMP research.However, such products are significantly more vulnerable to damage fromcontact with rock obstacles than fixed running boards and rocker guards,making it impractical to use vehicles equipped with automatic steps onmore difficult off-road trails and obstacles, limiting the utility ofthe lifted vehicle. Such automatic steps also make it difficult orimpossible to protect rocker panels with fixed running boards and rockerguards, lessening the off-road utility of vehicles equipped withautomatic steps.

SUMMARY

Rocker guards with automatic step are disclosed that provide robustprotection from damage due to rock obstacles to rocker panels and alsoprovide an automatic step to facilitate easy entry and exit from alifted vehicle. Some embodiments of a rocker guard with automatic stepfor a vehicle (rocker) can include a body formed to protect rockerpanels of a vehicle, a step located within the body when the step is ina retracted position, mounts attached to the body for attaching to avehicle, and an actuator coupled to the step and the body, the actuatorbeing configured to automatically lower the step out of the body to anextended position and retract the step to the retracted position.

The guard can also include a dampener operably coupled to the body andthe step. The dampener may be configured to hold at least a portion ofthe step in the retracted position. The guard can be a linear actuatorsuch as a hydraulic actuator, pneumatic actuator, or any other suitableactuator. Guard 100 may also include door sensor 12, 14 configured tosignal the step to automatically extend to the extended position whendoor sensor 12, 14 indicates an open door and automatically retract thestep to the retracted position when the door sensor indicates a closeddoor.

The guard can also include at least two support legs coupling the stepto the body. A tie rod operably connecting the at least two support legsto each other may be provided such that force applied to one support legresults in movement of each other support leg. Each of the at least twosupport legs may have a fixed length and be each rotationally coupled tothe step and to the body. The at least two support legs can extend thestep to the extended position by rotating about axis perpendicular tothe length of the step.

A bottom surface of the step may be formed to provide a continuoussurface appearance with the body when the step is in the retractedposition. Each of the support legs may include a structuralreinforcement to resist bending of the support legs when a load isplaced on the step. The body and step may form the general shape of arocker guard when the step is in the retracted position.

The guard may also include at least one attachment flange extending fromthe body along the entire length of the body and structural supportsaffixed to an inside surface of the body. The guard may be configuredsuch that the rocker guard with automatic step can support the weight ofa vehicle over a rock obstacle without damaging the functionality of thestep.

One embodiment of the invention has a body with an interior volumeoperable to receive a cartridge with an actuator for moving theautomatic step and one or more support legs for extending the automaticstep away from the body when the automatic step is coupled to the one ormore support legs. This particular embodiment improves the economy ofassembly by providing many of the internal workings of the automaticstep in a single assembly piece that may be inserted into an end of thebody, with minimal additional assembly required, in order to achieve afully functional and attached step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description can be better understood in light of Figures,in which:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of an exemplary rocker guard with automatic step ina retracted position;

FIG. 2 is a drawing of an exemplary rocker guard with automatic step inan extended position;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the rocker guard with automatic step of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a back view with partial cut-away of the rocker guard withautomatic step of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is close-up view with partial cut-away of a portion of the rockerguard with automatic step of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a close up view with partial cut-away of a portion of therocker guard with automatic step of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a rear perspective view with partial cut-away of the rockerguard with automatic step of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is a rear view with partial cut-away of the rocker guard withautomatic step of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a drawing of a second embodiment of a rocker guard withautomatic step in a retracted position;

FIG. 10 is a drawing of a second embodiment of a rocker guard withautomatic step in an extended position;

FIG. 11 is a partially exploded view a second embodiment of a rockerguard with automatic step;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of one end of a second embodiment of arocker guard with automatic step.

Together with the following description, the Figures demonstrate andexplain the principles of rocker guards with automatic step and methodsfor using and employing them. In the Figures, the size, number andconfiguration of components may be exaggerated for clarity. In someFigures, components have been omitted to allow for illustration ofinternal components. The same reference numerals in different Figuresrepresent the same component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description supplies specific details in order to providea thorough understanding. Nevertheless, the skilled artisan wouldunderstand that embodiments of rocker guards with automatic step andassociated methods of using them can be implemented and used withoutemploying these specific details. Indeed, exemplary embodiments andassociated methods can be placed into practice by modifying theillustrated units and associated methods and can be used in conjunctionwith any other devices and techniques conventionally used in theindustry. For example, while the description below generally focuses onan embodiment with two support legs, more than two legs may be used forlonger vehicles such as pickup trucks and large SUVs.

One exemplary embodiment of a rocker guard with automatic step (guard)100 is illustrated in FIGS. 1-8. Guard 100 may include a body with anintegrally formed step (see FIGS. 7 & 3) 110 and an automatic step 150,and support legs 160, 170. Guard 100 can be attached to vehicle 10 withmounts 112 and 114. Each of mounts 112, 114 may be formed as part ofbody 110, or may be attached to body 110 by welding or other fasteningmethods. Mounts 112 and 114 may extend along generally the entire lengthof body 110 to provide multiple attachment points to attach guard 100 tovehicle 10.

Additionally, mounts 112, 114 may extend from body 110 to provideadditional structural support to resist bending. Mounts 112, 114 alongwith body 110 may also provide additional structural support to a frameof vehicle 10 with multiple attachment points, or continuous attachmentwhen welded to the frame, by effectively increasing the maximumdimensions for loading of the frame or body where guard is attached.Vehicle 10 can thereby gain frame stiffness, improving off-roadcapability and potentially reducing the advent of stress and fatiguefailure in various parts of vehicle 10.

Step 150 may include bottom plate 152 and step member 154. Step 150 maybe pivotably attached to support legs 160, 170 by pins 156, 158respectively, allowing step 150 to remain parallel with body 110 assupport legs 160, 170 extend between a retracted position, such as isshown in FIGS. 1, 7, and 8, and an extended position as shown in FIGS.2-6. Step 150 may extend downwardly and laterally from body 110 andvehicle 10 to provide a step extended laterally from vehicle 10 tofacilitate entry and exit of passengers. In some embodiments, step 150can extend directly down. Similarly, step 150 may extend to any desiredpoint by adjusting the length and angle of the various components, aswill be apparent to one of ordinary skill. In various embodiments, step150 is configured as a stirrup step, having front and back openingsabove and adjacent to step member 154.

Step member 154 may include a textured surface to provide slip resistantproperties for people entering and exiting vehicle 10. The texturedsurface may be machined or otherwise formed into the step surface ofstep member 154, or may be in the form of grip tape, textured paint oradhesive, or any other slip resistant applied materials.

Bottom plate 152 may be formed such that a continuous surface isdisplayed with body 110 and step 150 when step 150 is fully retraced inthe retracted position, such as shown in FIG. 1. As also shown in FIG.1, in the fully retracted position, step 150 may be positioned entirelywithin body 110, with bottom plate showing to the exterior of body 110.In some embodiments, Bottom plate 152 may be the entire visible portion,or some portion of body 110 such that it appears that all or asignificant portion of guard 100 lowers to be step 150 when extended.For example, step 150 may include the bottom exterior half of guard 100as seen from outside of vehicle 10.

Step 150 can be extended and retracted by actuator 120. Actuator 120 maybe a linear actuator such as a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder and rod122. In some embodiments, an electric motor, solenoid, or other type ofactuator may be used as desired. Of course, any of several actuatortypes may be used to extend and retract step 150. In the illustratedembodiments, actuator 120 is pivotably mounted to body 110, with rod 122attached to structural reinforcement 172.

Support leg 170, and similarly support leg 160, may be formed with afixed length and from a single piece of material. Support leg may beformed from steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, or any other suitablematerial. Support leg 170 can be rotatably attached to block 193.Support leg 170 may rotate about pin 176, which holds leg 170 to block194. Block 194 may be attached to body 110. Pin 176 may be orientedperpendicular to the length of body 110 to allow step 150 to rotate awayfrom body 110.

Structural reinforcement 172 may provide additional support to resistbending and deflection of support leg 170. Support reinforcement 172 maybe attached to support leg 170 and block 193. Support reinforcement maybe welded or otherwise affixed to support leg 170 and pivotably attachedto block 193 through pin 184. Pin 184 and pin 176 may share a commonaxis to allow support leg 170 and support reinforcement 172 to rotate asa single unit about a single axis. Block 193 may be attached to body110.

Rod 122 may be attached to carrier 124 by pin 126. Carrier 124 may bepivotably attached to support leg 170 by pin 128. The axis of pin 128can be offset from the axis of pin 176 such that when rod 122 is travelsin and out of actuator 120, support leg 170 rotates about pins 176 and184.

Tie rod 180 may connect leg 170 to leg 160 through support reinforcement162, which is connected to support leg 160 similar to the connection ofsupport reinforcement 172 and support leg 170 as described above.Support leg 160 may be pivotably attached to block 191 by pin 164, andsupport reinforcement 162 may be pivotably attached to block 192 by pin188, similar to the connection arrangement of blocks 193 and 194, pins176, 184, support leg 170, and support reinforcement 172 describedabove. Tie rod 180 may transfer force from actuator 120 to support leg160 such that support leg 160 and support leg 170 rotate in unison whenactuator 120 is activated.

As best shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 7, body 110 is formed to encase andprotect the means for operating the automatic step and the step'sfunctionality when the body is attached to a vehicle. So configured, thestep and its components are protected from impact with obstacles such asrocks.

Dampener 130 may be attached between body 110 and support leg 160 tosmooth operation of the retraction and extension of step 150. Dampener130 may be pivotably attached to support leg 160 through connector end132 and pin 134. As best shown in FIG. 6, stop 166 may follow along anexterior contour of connector 132 such that when step 150 is fullyextended to the extended position, stop 166 cannot travel further,providing a fixed travel limit for leg 160 and, thereby, to step 150.Dampener 130 may provide additional force to hold leg 160 in a fullyretracted position to maintain step 150 in the retracted position.

Additional reinforcement members such as reinforcements 117, 118 can beprovided with guard 100 to provide sufficient structural support toallow guard sufficient strength to protect vehicle 10 from rockobstacles. Guard 100 may be sufficiently strong to support the weight ofvehicle 10 on a rock obstacle without damaging vehicle 10 or disruptingthe functionality of step 150. For example, on a difficult trail orobstacle, it may be necessary to for guard to slide along a rock or rockobstacle, supporting the weight of the vehicle on that side while thewheels on the opposite side move the vehicle along and past theobstacle.

The various components of guard 100 may be formed from any suitablematerial or combination of materials to achieve the structural andfunctional objectives as described above, such as steel, aluminum,carbon fiber, etc.

Of course, vehicle 10 may have a guard 100 on both the driver's andpassenger's sides, with the components arranged to provide similarfunctioning on each side. Actuator 120 may be activated with at leastone sensor for detecting when a door above guard 100 is opened orclosed. For example, a vehicle with a front and rear door over guard 100can have sensors in both doors that activate actuator to extend step 150when either door is open and retract step 150 when both doors areclosed. Similarly, the sensor may be located only in the front door. Thesensors can be a switch, optical sensor, or any other switch or sensorsuitable to determine whether or not a door is opened or closed.Similarly, the actuator may utilize sensors already installed in thedoors of vehicle 10, such as are commonly provided in factory-builtvehicles.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 through 12, a second embodiment of theinvention is shown. Referring to FIG. 11, the body 110 is shown with aninterior volume 1102 operable to receive a cartridge 1101 that has anactuator 120 for moving the automatic step 150 and one or more supportlegs 160, 170 for extending the automatic step 150 away from the body110 when the automatic step 150 is coupled to the one or more supportlegs 160, 170. This particular embodiment improves the economy ofassembly by providing many of the internal workings of the automaticstep in a single assembly piece (i.e. 1101) that may be inserted into anend A of the body 110, with minimal additional assembly required inorder to achieve a fully functional and attached step.

Referring briefly to FIG. 12, the cartridge 1101 may be indexed and/oraffixed to the body 110 through one or more rails 1103, 1204 thatcorrespond to body tracks 1203, 1202. Once placed within the body 110,one or more support legs 160, 170 may be pulled from the automatic stepaperture 1107 and coupled with the automatic step 150 to furtherassemble the step.

The embodiment of FIGS. 9 through 12 further shows a body 110 that, whenassembled with the step in the retracted position, and one or more ends1105, 1106, is substantially closed on all sides to create awell-encased, outer barrier of protection against elements andobstructions.

In addition to any previously indicated modification, numerous othervariations and alternative arrangements can be devised by those skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdescription, and appended claims are intended to cover suchmodifications and arrangements. Thus, while the information has beendescribed above with particularity and detail in connection with what ispresently deemed to be the most practical and preferred aspects, it willbe apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerousmodifications, including, but not limited to, form, function, manner ofoperation and use can be made without departing from the principles andconcepts set forth herein. Also, as used herein, examples are meant tobe illustrative only and should not be construed to be limiting in anymanner.

We claim:
 1. A rocker guard with automatic step for a vehicle comprisinga body portion having an interior volume operable to receive acartridge, the cartridge having: an actuator for moving a first step,and one or more support legs for extending the first step away from thebody when the first step is coupled to the support legs.
 2. The rockerguard with automatic step of claim 1, the first step further locatedwithin the body portion when coupled to the support legs and in aretracted position.
 3. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim 1,the actuator further coupled to the first step and configured toautomatically lower the first step out of the body portion to anextended position and to retract the first step to the retractedposition.
 4. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim 4, the firststep further capable of extending to a position substantially below saidbody portion.
 5. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim 1,further comprising a second step integrally formed on the outside of thebody.
 6. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim 1, the bodyportion formed to protect rocker panels of a vehicle.
 7. The rockerguard with automatic step of claim 1, the body portion encasing theactuator, one or more support legs and first step when in a retractedposition.
 8. A rocker guard with automatic step for a vehicle comprisinga body portion having an interior volume operable to receive acartridge, the cartridge having: an actuator for moving a first step,and one or more support legs for extending the first step away from thebody when the first step is coupled to the support legs the first stepfurther located within the body portion when coupled to the support legsand in a retracted position, the actuator further coupled to the firststep and configured to automatically lower the first step out of thebody portion to an extended position and to retract the first step tothe retracted position.
 9. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim8, the first step further capable of extending to a positionsubstantially below said body portion.
 10. The rocker guard withautomatic step of claim 8, the body portion formed to protect rockerpanels of a vehicle.
 11. The rocker guard with automatic step of claim8, the body portion encasing the actuator, one or more support legs andfirst step when in a retracted position.